By Said Amouri
JERUSALEM (AA) - The Israeli government voted Sunday to postpone municipal elections to Feb. 27, according to local media.
The polls were originally scheduled for Jan. 30.
Military data shows that 688 candidates for 144 cities and towns are currently serving in army reserves and could not be spared for elections.
"We usually do not hold elections in wartime but these elections were set in advance," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a Cabinet meeting.
"My recommendation is clear: to do this at the end of February to enable as many reservists as possible to participate in the elections. This is an elementary and important right," he added.
This was the second time for the local polls to be postponed.
The elections were originally scheduled for the end of October but were put on hold for three months amid an Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip following the Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.
Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip from the air and ground since the Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, killing at least 21,822 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 56,451 others, according to health authorities in the enclave.
Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.
The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave's infrastructure damaged or destroyed, and nearly 2 million residents displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Ankara